During this semester, each student in this class is expected to
produce:

an in-class presentation, approx. 20 minutes plus discussion

a midterm research paper, 5-7 pages (1500-2000 words) in length

a final term research paper, 10-12 pages (3000-4000 words) in length

Your in-class presentation should be on the same topic as either your
midterm paper or your final paper, but the other paper should be on a
different topic. Thus you only need to research two topics.
For each paper, students must submit first a
proposal or outline, then a rough draft, and finally the
finished paper.

The in-class presentations
by different students must all be on different topics.
(Your term paper topic other than your presentation topic can be
the same as another student's topic.)
When
deciding what topic to choose for your presentation, consult
the schedule of presentations
posted on the class web page to find out what topics have already been
taken.

The research papers must be based on research and written in proper
scholarly style, with references for all sources consulted. See the
MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers or similar work for
guidelines on proper citation style. The topic of one paper is to be
the same as your presentation, but you may (should) go into greater
depth and cover a broader range of aspects of the topic than your
presentation did. For instance, overlap with another student's
presentation topic is not a problem for your paper.